Amazon has become the latest company to be linked with the purchase of Manchester United after the Glazers put the club on the market – but the asking price of around £7billion is seen as unrealistic by experts industry.
United’s controversial owners announced last month they would consider selling the club in a sensational statement saying they had begun a process to “explore strategic alternatives to enhance the growth of the club”.
The Glazers have been in power at United for 17 years since a £790million leveraged buyout in 2005, but their ownership is deeply unpopular.
The Glazers have confirmed they are ready to sell Manchester United after 17 years at the club
Amazon is the latest global company to be linked to the purchase of the Premier League giants
The news that they would be holding a sale was met with joy among the club’s fans, but there were also misgivings about who might come next.
Investment firm Raine Group has been appointed United’s exclusive financial adviser for the process and is expected to want between £6bn and £7bn – a price those in the City of London say is ‘out of the box’.
According to Athleticspeople familiar with the talks have cited Amazon, which owns the Premier League broadcasting rights after paying £30million a year, as a potential buyer.
Amazon will also broadcast 17 Tuesday Champions League first-choice matches from 2024 in a deal worth £1.5billion.
However, it’s unclear whether the regulations that ultimately prevented United’s sale to BSkyB in 1999 could impact any decision by the global company.
“Amazon declined to comment on rumors and speculation,” Amazon, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, told The Athletic.
Billionaire Jeff Bezos (center) is the founding chairman of Amazon, one of the world’s largest companies
Other companies linked to United include Apple, which has denied reports they want to buy the club, while Ineos chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe – Britain’s richest man – is also said to be interested. .
The Athletic also reports that City of London experts believe the £6-7billion price tag is unrealistic.
Football Benchmark, a data and analytics platform which is an offshoot of accounting firm KPMG, valued United at around £2.425 billion.
The company’s founder and chief executive, Andrea Sartori, said in a recent report: “The discrepancy between the assumed transaction price and the theoretical value of Manchester United FC appears huge.”
United fans have protested the Glazers’ ownership of the club since the takeover in 2005
Sir Michael Moritz, the billionaire who co-wrote former United boss Sir Alex Ferguson’s book Leading in 2015, wrote in The Times last month that the prices advertised for United were unrealistic.
It has also been reported that Joel and Avram Glazer, the executive co-chairmen of United, have entered into talks with US private equity firm Apollo over the potential takeover of their siblings and not selling a share of the club.
Joel and Avram are also believed to have been taken aback by suggestions it could cost between £1.2bn and £1.6bn to build a brand new stadium instead of developing long-needed Old Trafford. a significant upgrade.
American tycoons have been deeply unpopular figures at Old Trafford for several years
The cost of building a new stadium for United would have worried Joel and Avram Glazer
United fans hoping to see the Glazers back soon should be disappointed as there isn’t the same urgency to complete a sale as there is with Chelsea, a process also overseen by the Raine Group.
Chelsea eventually sold for £2.5billion to a consortium led by Todd Boehly after sanctions were imposed on former owner Roman Abramovich due to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Raine’s co-founder and partner Joe Ravitch is leading the talks on behalf of the Glazers and the group are still targeting a full sale of United in the “first quarter of 2023” despite the complexity surrounding the process.
It comes after United released their latest financial figures which revealed the club was close to running into £1bn of debt. The figures also showed that the Glazer family had not received a dividend for the first time since 2016.
The owners were criticized for withdrawing an £11million dividend from the club in June, but the board, which is mainly made up of the six Glazer siblings, did not approve the latest half-yearly payment to shareholders .
The Glazers appear to be considering an exit after confirming they would be open to a potential sale
Figures show United’s revenue has risen by 13.6 per cent and the club is on course to earn between £590m and £610m for the full year, despite having recorded a pre-tax loss of £2.5m per week for the first quarter of 2022-23.
The quarterly results also revealed that the club’s cash levels had fallen by £96.9m, again mainly due to summer spending, meaning a further drawdown on credit facilities was needed.
The Athletic report that some bidders will wait for United’s financial situation to worsen before throwing their hats into the ring for the club.
The Manchester United Supporters Trust has called on fans to engage with the club’s sale process.
United fans staged protests against the owners ahead of matches and a supporters group called The 1958 also targeted sponsors and other stakeholders with online campaigns.